


Spirit of Exploration

by vgsfshade6116



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Gen, just a little story about hope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 00:39:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17570972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vgsfshade6116/pseuds/vgsfshade6116
Summary: America welcomes back an old friend. Oneshot.





	Spirit of Exploration

He was smiling as he entered the hold where he was staying. "Hey," he said, taking off his helmet. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

There was no audible answer, but America was just fine with that. He came up and brushed off some of the dust on his solar panels.

"I've got so much to say to you, but I'm not sure if I can say it in the best way possible… I sure am going to try though.

"We've come so far since we sent you out. Actual starships like the one you see in Star Trek. FTL travel. Artificial gravity. Hell, we even found that alien life exists…"

He petted his "head." "But that had to start somewhere. Damn that Russia had to send out Sputnik first, but at least I got the moon… Still, you're a big part of that start too.

"Those first pictures of Mars you took and sent back…  _freaking blew my mind_. They were just so eerily beautiful. I felt so bad that we couldn't get you back … but then, I have a feeling you knew it was a one-way trip."

America let out a small chuckle. "If England or France knew I was talking to you like this, they'd probably laugh. But that would probably because they didn't really know you like I do.

"You've done so much, the whole time you were on that red rock. You did real good, giving us the data about what it was like. And by us, I don't just mean Americans. I mean all of us. Japanese, Canadian, German, Australian… But in the end, those labels don't really matter, do they? After all, we're all human."

He had to pause for a moment to wipe a stray tear away. "But my big point is this. You're an explorer. You deserve a spot up there- okay, maybe not literally, since you've already been up on Mars long enough- but you deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence with guys like Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong. You deserve to be mentioned with all those other guys who went out there, risked everything so that people could learn more about what was out there. Anyone says different, they plain got no soul."

America smiled as he felt the bump that indicated that they had landed. He got up, and saluted, just like his Marvin the Martian mission patch.

"You're back, old buddy. Welcome home."

Welcome home.

_On January 26th, 2010, Spirit was declared a 'stationary research station', as it got embedded into soft soil with no way to free itself. On March 22, 2010, Spirit finally stopped functioning due to dust buildup on its solar panels._

_However, on 2153, humanity finally retrieved Spirit from Mars. It is now exhibited at the UNAS Museum of Space._

**Author's Note:**

> If you haven't guessed, this is inspired by this XKCD comic: https://xkcd.com/695/


End file.
